No. 1 USC denies Irish upset with late score

FRAN BLINEBURY, Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, October 16, 2005

SOUTH BEND, IND. - Matt Leinart walked up to the line of scrimmage and knew what he wanted to do. But even he had a flicker of doubt in those flash-fire moments when the crowd grew louder, the TV lights shined brighter and the weight of Southern Cal's No. 1 ranking, three-year unbeaten streak and place in history rested on his shoulders.

Before he took the snap from center, Leinart turned to teammate Reggie Bush in the backfield and asked for a second opinion.

"Go for it, dude," Bush said.

How Southern Californian. How Hollywood. How perfectly pulsating and deliciously dramatic as Leinart pushed and battled and spun and eventually went across the goal line backward with three seconds left on the clock to lift the Trojans to a 34-31 victory over ninth-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday.

It was a gnarly finish, a radical wave of clutch poise and performance. It was anything but a day at the beach as the Trojans won their 28th consecutive game and made a place on the mantel for one more historic chapter in the USC-Notre Dame rivalry that had filled college football lore.

From the moment the Fighting Irish reappeared on the lush grass at Notre Dame Stadium just before kickoff having changed into inspirational green jerseys to those final ticks of the clock when the crowd of 80,795 didn't know when to resume breathing, it was a game that lived up to all of its advanced hype.

"It was for everybody who watches those classic (sports) channels," said USC coach Pete Carroll.

This was a game the Irish and their fans thought they had won just a few minutes earlier when Leinart took off around left end, launched his body into the air and was stopped just short of the goal line as the ball came loose and flew out of bounds. As the scoreboard clock ran down toward 0:00, Notre Dame fans spilled out of the stands to celebrate in the middle of the field and first-year Irish coach Charlie Weis raised his arms in triumph on the sidelines.

But the officials conferred, put seven seconds on the clock, the ball inside the one-yard line and gave Leinart one more opportunity.

It is supposed to be Leinart's choice on the play to spike the ball to stop the clock or simply risk the entire season on one final play.

But the decision had been made.

"I did not want to go to overtime," Carroll said. "I had already told our guys before the last possession, 'We're going for it the whole way.' "

Leinart, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, was stopped on his initial surge toward the line, but kept on his feet and eventually got a helping shove into the end zone from none other than his tailback.

"I used all 200 pounds of my body to push Matt in," said Bush, who gained 163 yards on just 15 carries and scored three touchdowns.

"You go for the win and be the hero if you do it," Leinart said. "If you don't make it, you kind of second-guess yourself. I just wanted to do it."

All of the last-second fireworks came after the stubborn, confident Irish (4-2) had made an impressive push, driving 87 yards in eight plays with quarterback Brady Quinn calling his own number for a five-yard scoring run that gave Notre Dame a 31-28 lead with just 2:04 left in the game.

That seemed to be setting the stage for another one of the epic, streak-busting upsets the Irish have pulled off through the years. Weis, in his rookie season, nearly accomplished it with virtually the same roster that had been whipped by USC by 31 points a year ago.

"If you're waiting for me to say it was a good loss, you won't hear that here," Weis said. "Losing is losing. There are no moral victories. What I did tell them was not to hang their heads."

The Irish controlled the ball for 38:40 and went on drives of 80, 72 and 87 yards to keep it out of the hands of USC's high-powered offense that had come in averaging 51 points per game. They also got a 60-yard punt return by Tom Zbikowski that gave them a 21-14 lead at halftime.

Still, the quick-strike Trojans were able to score touchdowns on drives of only two, three and two plays to keep pace.

So when Quinn stretched out his right hand to score the go-ahead TD, any assumptions of a win would have been premature. Yet even Trojans left guard Taitusi Lutui admitted USC (6-0) was teetering on the edge.

"When we got into the huddle for that last drive, there were a lot of guys with tears in our eyes," Lutui said.

But on fourth-and-nine at the USC 26, Leinart saw a Notre Dame blitz coming and checked into a three-step drop and a deep pass to Dwayne Jarrett, who hauled it in for a 61-yard gain that set up the finish that will take its place in the lore of these two legendary programs.